In India, not a single dish is complete without spices. They form the unique symphony of smells and tastes. Thanks to spices, even ordinary rice is incredibly tasty and fragrant. But the Biryani dish enjoys special honor in Indian cuisine. It is prepared with the addition of chicken, vegetables, dried fruits or other products. One of the options for this dish and other Indian rice recipes are presented in our article. A step-by-step description and recommendations will help to avoid difficulties in the cooking process.
Indian Biryani Rice: Chicken Recipe
An invariable component of this dish is rice, as a rule, basmati. It is believed that it began to grow in India more than three thousand years ago. In translation, the name "basmati" means "fragrant." Well, if you take into account that when cooking rice is combined with spicy spices, you can imagine how refined the aroma is. It should be noted that the taste of basmati every year only improves, so you can store it for a long time.
The following spices are traditionally used in the preparation of Biryani:
- cumin;
- cinnamon;
- cardamom;
- turmeric;
- cloves;
- coriander;
- mint;
- saffron;
- ginger;
- bow;
- garlic.
But the list presented above can be continued further. Spicy additives can reveal the true taste of the dish and make it richer.
Biryani is cooked with vegetables, fish, meat and poultry. To get started, let’s take a look at the Indian rice recipe (pictured above) with chicken. Subject to a certain sequence of actions, the dish turns out to be so exquisite that it can be served on the festive table. If you correctly collect a bouquet of spices, even a novice can cook Biryani.
List of ingredients
To prepare Biryani according to an Indian recipe, it is necessary to prepare the following products:
- chicken - 1.5 kg;
- Basmati - 1.5 tbsp .;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- garlic in cloves - 4 pcs.;
- ginger root - 15 g;
- tomatoes in juice - 3 tbsp. l .;
- yogurt - 200 ml;
- ghee - 50 g;
- vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l .;
- masala biryani or curry (spice mix) - 1 tbsp. l .;
- cloves - 5 pcs.;
- chili pepper - to taste;
- salt.
Cooking is recommended in a deep pan with a double bottom and thick walls or in a cast-iron cauldron.
Step by step recipe
When preparing Biryani, it is important to observe the following sequence of actions:
- First of all, the bird should be pickled in spices. To do this, cut the chicken into 10-12 parts, wash each piece, dry and put in a deep bowl.
- Grate the ginger root, finely chop the green chili pepper, and chop the garlic with a knife. Add the ingredients to the chicken pan.
- Prepare spices to taste or use a prepared set of spices. Add to other ingredients along with salt and black pepper. Put yogurt and tomatoes here in the pan. Tomatoes can be replaced with ready-made tomato paste (1 tbsp. L.).
- Stir the chicken pieces with spices. You can add a little more ground chili and sweet paprika to your liking. Marinate chicken with spices for at least 4 hours.
- After a while, heat ghee in a pan. Add clove inflorescences. Fry in oil, first chopped onion in half rings until golden brown, and then pieces of chicken. It is important that the fire is below average, and the bird is cooked under a lid.
- Pre-soak the basmati in cold water for 30 minutes, and then boil it until half ready in a sufficient amount of salted water. Fold the rice in a colander so that the glass is excess liquid.
- Put the basmati on top of the chicken pieces. Do not mix.
- According to the recipe, rice with chicken in Indian style should be cooked under the lid for another 30-40 minutes on low heat. When serving, mix the dish and sprinkle with cilantro.
Features of preparation and recommendations
In order for Biryani and any other Indian-cooked rice (according to the recipes below, for example) to turn out delicious, when preparing meals, you should listen to the following tips:
- Almost all dishes in India are prepared using ghee butter. Unlike creamy, it does not become toxic when heated, and begins to burn and smoke only at a temperature of 250 ° C.
- Chicken for Biryani is recommended to marinate at room temperature. In Indian cuisine, adding a large number of spices to various dishes was originally conceived in order to extend the life of the products. Therefore, do not worry that the meat will be lost. On the contrary, it is pickled much better and tastes better. But only on condition that all the dishes, knife, cutting board and hands were clean.
- Curry, which is added to Biryani, is one of the most common spices in Indian cuisine. This seasoning does not have a fixed composition and contains a mixture of spices. The main ingredient in the spice is turmeric root powder. Curry also includes coriander, fenugreek, cayenne pepper, fennel, cardamom, cloves, ginger and other spices.
How to cook rice in Indian side dish?
The next dish goes well with meat and fish. It is not difficult to cook it, and as a result it turns out crumbly, fragrant and beautiful bright yellow rice in Indian way.
The recipe for the dish includes the following steps:
- Put basmati rice (1 tbsp.) In a sieve and rinse well until the water is clear.
- In a thick-walled pan, heat up sunflower oil (3 tbsp. L.). Put washed rice in it and, stirring with a wooden spoon (spatula), bring the rice to transparency.
- At the same time, boil the kettle on the stove.
- Once the rice is clear, pour 2 cups of hot water into it.
- Add salt (1 tsp) and turmeric (¼ tsp). Mix.
- Cover the pan and cook the rice for 12-15 minutes. Opening the lid and stirring the rice is not recommended.
- The finished dish is allowed to brew for 15 minutes and you can taste it.
Indian Rice Curry Chicken Recipe
The following dish is widely popular all over the world. Curry is a set of spices, and gravy, which cooks vegetables, meat and side dishes. Sliced chicken in a spicy sauce is ideal for crisp and fragrant rice. The Indian curry recipe is as follows:
- Heat ghee or any vegetable oil in a pan. Fry the onion chopped into cubes until soft.
- Put the garlic (2 cloves) and grated ginger root (½ teaspoon) in a pan to the onion. Add tomato paste (1 tbsp.) To this and pour 100 ml of water. Stew for 10 minutes.
- Cut the chicken fillet (350 g) into slices and transfer it to the pan. Stew meat in sauce for 20 minutes.
- Add spices to the chicken: ½ teaspoon of cardamom, cinnamon, curry, turmeric, black pepper, salt and a few buds of cloves. Mix the dish with spices and bring it to readiness.
Lemon rice
The following dish is another option for preparing an unusual side dish for the main dish: meat or fish. According to the Indian recipe, lemon rice is prepared in this way:
- Soak basmati (350 g) in cold water for 20 minutes, then rinse and dry.
- Melt the butter in a pan (1 tbsp.) And fry black mustard seeds in it (1.5 tsp.), Caraway seeds and turmeric (0.5 tsp. Each), curry (1 tsp. ), cinnamon stick. Once the spices crack, you can add rice, green chili and cashew nuts (100 g).
- Fry rice with spices for 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until it becomes transparent.
- Pour 800 ml of hot salted water (2 tsp. Salt) into the pan. Bring the contents of the pan to a boil, then cover the dishes and cook the rice until cooked until it absorbs all the liquid, about 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle the finished dish with lemon juice, put 50 g of butter and mix. In this case, it is advisable to use a wooden spatula so as not to disturb the grain structure.
Indian rice with vegetables
The next dish can be classified as fast, easy and healthy. Even someone who is almost unfamiliar with cooking can cook Indian-style rice with vegetables. The recipe includes the following steps:
- In the pan, put the washed basmati (2 tbsp.) And pour it with clean cold water (3 tbsp.). Bring to a boil, salt to taste and immediately add melted butter (1 tsp). Cook rice for 10 minutes, then lay it in a colander and rinse. It is important that it turns out friable.
- Heat olive oil (2 tbsp.) In a pan and add all the spices: cardamom and caraway seeds (1 tsp. Each), hot red pepper (2 tsp.), Cloves (3 pcs.), Bay leaf ( 2 pcs.). Heat them well until they crack heavily in a pan.
- Cauliflower (100 g) to disassemble for inflorescences and blanch in hot and cold water. Put it in a pan.
- Chop other vegetables (onions, carrots, peppers). Add them to cauliflower along with green peas (50 g). Fry vegetables for 5 minutes.
- Add rice to the pan. Stir and cook everything together for 2 minutes. Salt, pepper and remove from heat.
Indian rice with egg
The following dish can be served on the table as an independent or as a side dish:
- Boil a glass of rice until half cooked. It is advisable to use basmati or any other variety with long grains.
- Pour 40 ml of vegetable oil into the pan. Preheat it and lay out the vegetables: chopped ginger (10 g), sweet pepper, leek, carrots, chopped into cubes. Fry for 10 minutes. Then add rice and pour soy sauce (100 ml).
- According to the recipe, Indian rice should be fried with vegetables for 3 minutes, after which 2 eggs should be driven into the pan. Immediately vigorously stir them into the dish so that they are evenly distributed. Now you can add salt if necessary. Cook a couple of minutes and remove from heat.